http://www.karencoates.com/Stories/ForestOfUrns.html
Breaking the Burial Jars
(A version of this article was translated into Spanish and ran in GEO Spain)
By Karen J. Coates
Walter Paran was a lucky boy. Three minutes out his front door lay an old grave in the forest marked by big stone slabs, a broken jar, and human bones. A few minutes another way was a pit where the riches of the dead were purportedly buried. What more could an inquisitive kid want?
Back then, in the 1970s, Walter didn’t know much about archaeology. He had heard that the burial site, Batu Ritong, held the remains of a prominent ancestor. He and his friends explored the forest around the stone-slab enclosures cautiously. “We were afraid when we came here.” Superstition mixed with curiosity.
Walter grew up in the Kelabit Highlands of Malaysia’s Sarawak state. For centuries, the Kelabit people have lived deep in Borneo’s upland jungles, having practiced animism and headhunting until missionaries converted them to Christianity after World War II. Before that, the Kelabits erected megalithic monuments such as Batu Ritong, where ancestral remains were buried in large ceramic jars. They also erected separate memorials where the belongings of the deceased were buried. Walter takes us to such a place on the other side of his village. It consists of a couple of big stone slabs propped on boulders, covering dozens of small stones, and an ancestor’s belongings in the ground. Villagers do not dig up the valuables, Walter says, “otherwise your life is not nice.”
Walter worries about these sites. Much of the Kelabit Highlands is slated for logging, and Walter fears Kelabit relics and features will perish by axe and bulldozer before archaeologists can study them.
“As yet, no proper archaeological work has been done in the Kelabit Highlands,” says Monica Janowski, a University of Greenwich, England, anthropologist. She is part of a research project that will map and investigate highlands archaeology and trace the relationship between people and environment through time.
“The forest is part and parcel of that heritage, lived in and altered by humans at least 50,000 years ago,” says the project’s principal investigator, Professor Graeme Barker of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at the University of Cambridge, England. “We need to designate a series of ‘archaeological landscapes’ and protect them.”
Logging poses a direct threat. That’s why many Kelabits hope for an extension of the recently established Pulong Tau National Park, to encompass nearly 400,000 acres and the archaeology within. Pulong Tau, now about 150,000 acres, is part of a conservation project straddling the border between Sarawak and Indonesia’s Kalimantan province. The International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), an intergovernmental organization promoting sustainable forest practices and conservation, endorses the project and has collaborated with local people to survey highland cultural sites. The project documented 88 sites, including 42 megaliths of varying types.
But Kelabit archaeology encompasses far more than monuments, “because the landscape is also a cultural and historical artifact,” Barker explains. His team’s preliminary survey in the southern highlands found a range of archaeological sites beyond megaliths and burials.
Walter knows his tribe’s archaeology is fading fast. Jar burials and funerary celebrations have ceased since Christianity’s introduction, and artifacts have deteriorated with time and neglect. Take Batu Ritong: Mosses grow through the tiny human bone fragments, and jar shards lay helter-skelter among sticks, stones and weeds. About three miles from there, a dozen imported Chinese jars sit in the tangled forest, some buried, some broken, many embossed with common Asian dragon designs. Our guide, Sylvester Kalang Talan Pitan, says people rarely come here. He knows little about the jars. “Even the old men don’t know how old these are.”
But Uun, Walter’s elderly father, recalls stories of old burial ceremonies. “When a father passed away, we would put his remains in the jar to show our love,” he says. “In the olden days, the jars were very expensive.” There were three styles: jars with dragon designs (the oldest type, which sold for 20 buffaloes), jars with flowers and jars with crocodiles, both of which were much cheaper. They were bought from a faraway town called Lawas. “If we carried these heavy things here, it took two weeks. Two weeks plus.”
Uun sits cross-legged on Walter’s floor, wearing a Metallica hat, which he bought on the coast. He talks of the headhunting years. Uun grew up with human heads hanging from the longhouse rafters. “It was just normal.” Once, he says, a marauding tribe attacked his grandfather’s village and the people escaped to a jar burial site in the jungle. They camped at that site for months, unable to work their fields. They grew hungry. Eventually, they sacrificed one villager to the enemy as payment for safe passage to their homes and paddies.
As Sylvester treks through the forest, he points to megaliths marked by yellow ITTO signs. Some sites have no fences. One is circled by a rudimentary barrier that might deter a buffalo – but not a bulldozer. Like other Kelabits, Sylvester worries about the future. From time immemorial, feet were the only mode of transportation around the area. Airplanes came with WWII, opening the highlands to those with money and the inclination. Now, a growing spiderweb of logging roads fans across the landscape, creeping closer to the Kelabits. “It’s disgusting,” says a pilot who flies the area. “No one can stop them.”
Janowski warns that even a national park extension would not guarantee the survival of Kelabit relics. “I am not sure how much the logging companies will respect the sites.”
Dr. Paul Chai of the ITTO Biodiversity Conservation Project says ITTO is not involved in timber licensing. “But we have sent survey information and maps to the contractors to request them to keep out of the sites.” Locals also must ask the Sarawak Museum to protect the area, he says.
Walter seems harried when pointing to the mountains beyond his village. The logging trucks are there, just over the hill. Sometimes the wind carries the sound of their grinding engines. He invites us to explore more burial sites and megaliths up there — soon.
“I hope that you come before the logging enters this side.”
Friday, December 18, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Bario rice gets GI certification
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/12/1/nation/5213332&sec=nation
Tuesday December 1, 2009
Bario rice gets GI certification
KUCHING: Sarawak’s Bario rice, grown in the Kelabit Highlands, is now recognised and protected as a brand name unique to the state.
Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan said Bario rice was granted geographical indication (GI) certification by the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia in March.
This meant that the “Bario rice” brand name was protected and could not be used for similar rice planted outside Sarawak, he said.
(GI protection applies to products which originate from specific geographical locations and possess consistent quality, authenticity and reputation.)
With the certification, Dr Chan said Bario rice could be marketed as a niche product grown only in the high altitude and cool, natural environment of the Kelabit Highlands.
“We are also trying to go organic with it. Bario rice can go organic easily because it is naturally farmed with no machinery and very little insecticide or fertiliser,” he told a press conference yesterday.
Dr Chan said several farmers had already started the organic planting of Bario rice with the first harvest expected early next year.
Tuesday December 1, 2009
Bario rice gets GI certification
KUCHING: Sarawak’s Bario rice, grown in the Kelabit Highlands, is now recognised and protected as a brand name unique to the state.
Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan said Bario rice was granted geographical indication (GI) certification by the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia in March.
This meant that the “Bario rice” brand name was protected and could not be used for similar rice planted outside Sarawak, he said.
(GI protection applies to products which originate from specific geographical locations and possess consistent quality, authenticity and reputation.)
With the certification, Dr Chan said Bario rice could be marketed as a niche product grown only in the high altitude and cool, natural environment of the Kelabit Highlands.
“We are also trying to go organic with it. Bario rice can go organic easily because it is naturally farmed with no machinery and very little insecticide or fertiliser,” he told a press conference yesterday.
Dr Chan said several farmers had already started the organic planting of Bario rice with the first harvest expected early next year.
Protecting state's rice brand names
http://www.theborneopost.com/?p=598
Protecting state’s rice brand names
by Lim How Pim. Posted on December 1, 2009, Tuesday
KUCHING: Sarawak’s ‘Beras Bajong’ and ‘Beras Biris’ are expected to receive the Geographical Indications (GI) Certificate of Registration from the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) in April next year.
QUALITY ASSURED: Director of Agriculture Department Paul Vincent (second right) presents the Geographical Indications (GI) Certificate of Registration for ‘Bario Rice’ to Dr Chan as others look on.
With the certification, the brand names of local rice, like ‘Bario Rice’, will be protected and therefore cannot be used on similar rice grown outside the state.
‘Bario Rice’ is among the first six products granted the GI certification across the country in April this year.
The other products are Sarawak Pepper, Sabah Tea, Tenom Coffee, Borneo Virgin Coconut Oil and Sabah Seaweed.
Recently, ‘Buah Limau Bali’ was added to the list.
‘Beras Bajong’ is a fragrant rice variety planted by the traditional rice farmers of Lubok Nibong in Betong.
It is a traditional tall variety that is photoperiod sensitive and only a single crop can be planted in a year.
‘Beras Biris’ originates from the rice farms of Simunjan in Samarahan Division.
It is a fragrant traditional rice variety and was known as ‘Beras Wangi Simunjan’ in view of its strong aroma.
Speaking at a press conference here yesterday, Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr George Chan said GI protection would provide entrepreneurs and consumers the assurance of authenticity and consistent product quality.
‘Beras Bajong’ and ‘Beras Biris’ were two very promising rice varieties, he said, adding that the Department of Agriculture would concentrate on certification of rice and later expand to vegetables and fruits.
Dr Chan, who is Modernisation of Agriculture Minister, pointed out that GI protection would boost the country’s image and the location’s visibility via ‘GI tourism’ such as promoting GI location as a tourist destination.
“GI protection will add value to products and effectively increase farmers’ income and inadvertently create greater demands for our exotic rice varieties at home and abroad,” he said.
He thus asserted that farmers in the state had to be well trained to not only maintain product quality, but also to increase production of various products.
For the time being, he said export of ‘Bario Rice’ was still at the planning stage, adding that the authorities would go all out to integrate the existing facilities and personnel (farmers) to hike up production to meet the demand.
“After we have integrated our farmers and other things, then we will talk about export. At the moment, there is no volume of production and we do not have enough to sell,” he added.
He was, however, confident that the state would be able to double the production of ‘Bario Rice’ following enhanced planting techniques and irrigation system.
To date, the state produces 480 metric tonnes of ‘Bario Rice’ per annum.
Originating from the Kelabit Highlands, ‘Bario Rice’ is known for its soft and slightly sticky texture, fine grains and gastronomical experience.
It is sold for RM10 per kg.
Dr Chan said there was a plan to turn ‘Bario Rice’ into an organic product.
While assuring that the certification would not cause any hike in the price of the product, he said the price would be reviewed once it became an organic product.
‘Bario Rice’ is famous for its excellent taste and texture. It is unique for it is homegrown, hand selected and harvested to ensure its excellent taste and quality.
It has also earned a name and is regarded as one of the finest rice grains in the world.
Protecting state’s rice brand names
by Lim How Pim. Posted on December 1, 2009, Tuesday
KUCHING: Sarawak’s ‘Beras Bajong’ and ‘Beras Biris’ are expected to receive the Geographical Indications (GI) Certificate of Registration from the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) in April next year.
QUALITY ASSURED: Director of Agriculture Department Paul Vincent (second right) presents the Geographical Indications (GI) Certificate of Registration for ‘Bario Rice’ to Dr Chan as others look on.
With the certification, the brand names of local rice, like ‘Bario Rice’, will be protected and therefore cannot be used on similar rice grown outside the state.
‘Bario Rice’ is among the first six products granted the GI certification across the country in April this year.
The other products are Sarawak Pepper, Sabah Tea, Tenom Coffee, Borneo Virgin Coconut Oil and Sabah Seaweed.
Recently, ‘Buah Limau Bali’ was added to the list.
‘Beras Bajong’ is a fragrant rice variety planted by the traditional rice farmers of Lubok Nibong in Betong.
It is a traditional tall variety that is photoperiod sensitive and only a single crop can be planted in a year.
‘Beras Biris’ originates from the rice farms of Simunjan in Samarahan Division.
It is a fragrant traditional rice variety and was known as ‘Beras Wangi Simunjan’ in view of its strong aroma.
Speaking at a press conference here yesterday, Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr George Chan said GI protection would provide entrepreneurs and consumers the assurance of authenticity and consistent product quality.
‘Beras Bajong’ and ‘Beras Biris’ were two very promising rice varieties, he said, adding that the Department of Agriculture would concentrate on certification of rice and later expand to vegetables and fruits.
Dr Chan, who is Modernisation of Agriculture Minister, pointed out that GI protection would boost the country’s image and the location’s visibility via ‘GI tourism’ such as promoting GI location as a tourist destination.
“GI protection will add value to products and effectively increase farmers’ income and inadvertently create greater demands for our exotic rice varieties at home and abroad,” he said.
He thus asserted that farmers in the state had to be well trained to not only maintain product quality, but also to increase production of various products.
For the time being, he said export of ‘Bario Rice’ was still at the planning stage, adding that the authorities would go all out to integrate the existing facilities and personnel (farmers) to hike up production to meet the demand.
“After we have integrated our farmers and other things, then we will talk about export. At the moment, there is no volume of production and we do not have enough to sell,” he added.
He was, however, confident that the state would be able to double the production of ‘Bario Rice’ following enhanced planting techniques and irrigation system.
To date, the state produces 480 metric tonnes of ‘Bario Rice’ per annum.
Originating from the Kelabit Highlands, ‘Bario Rice’ is known for its soft and slightly sticky texture, fine grains and gastronomical experience.
It is sold for RM10 per kg.
Dr Chan said there was a plan to turn ‘Bario Rice’ into an organic product.
While assuring that the certification would not cause any hike in the price of the product, he said the price would be reviewed once it became an organic product.
‘Bario Rice’ is famous for its excellent taste and texture. It is unique for it is homegrown, hand selected and harvested to ensure its excellent taste and quality.
It has also earned a name and is regarded as one of the finest rice grains in the world.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Extent of damage to ecosystem can be seen from northern to central parts of Sarawak
http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2009/10/26/southneast/4940507&sec=southneast
Monday October 26, 2009
Extent of damage to ecosystem can be seen from northern to central parts of Sarawak
By STEPHEN THEN
MIRI: The Auditor-General’s report detailing poor forest-management in Sarawak is certainly an eye-opener, but the report has merely scraped the surface of the actual extent of the massive environmental damage that overlogging and oil-palm projects have caused in rural Sarawak.
The extent of damage to the ecosystem can be seen from northern Sarawak all the way to the central parts of the state, and it is not only the non-governmental bodies that are up in arms over these woes, but also village community leaders, members of Parliament and state assemblymen from Barisan Nasional.
The Star had during various trips into the remote areas also found rivers, hills, valley basins and mountain slopes being badly affected by blatant land clearing, timber extraction and construction of logging trails.
Many rivers have become so polluted by mud debris from logging activities that they are no longer fit for use for cooking and drinking.
Rivers running through oil-palm estates have been poisoned by pesticides and palm oil effluents while erosion and siltation have resulted in constant floods that threatened tens of thousands of people.
Not safe: A tributary of the Linau River in central Sarawak that has been ravaged by logging. The water is undrinkable due to mud erosion and the river is clogged by timber debris, making boat rides dangerous. Many other rivers in Sarawak face similar problems due to excessive logging and oil palm projects.
The latest Auditor-General’s report named Sarawak, Pahang, Johor and Kelantan as the states that had fared badly in terms of forest management and enforcement of environmental laws.
The report said that these states are suffering serious degradation to their forests and environment that had caused severe increase in erosion, river degradation, landslides, destruction of flora and fauna and depletion of animal habitats.
The report also said that due to the lack of enforcement by the forest authorities, illegal logging had even been found in national parks and forests reserves.
Though the report did not mention specific areas in these states that are ravaged by environmental woes, The Star found many such places in Sarawak.
In the Lambir constituency south of Miri, rivers are so badly polluted by land clearing and oil-palm projects, riverine villagers have sounded alarm bells.
These woes were also brought up for discussion among political leaders during a meeting here.
State assemblyman Aidan Wing said villagers had complained that effluent from oil-palm estates was being dumped into nearby rivers.
“We (villagers) cannot rely on the rivers for drinking and cooking anymore because the water has been too seriously contaminated.
“The rivers were the main source of water for thousands of people. Now, these rivers are no longer safe. The villages need piped water supply from the water treatment plant.
“During the drought, thousands of people had to seek help from the Public Works Department to transport fresh water,” he said.
Wing appealed to State Public Utilities Minister Datuk Seri Awang Tengah Ali Hassan to seek funds to connect every longhouse and riverine settlements to the JKR Water Treatment plant in Lambir.
In the northern interior of Baram, its MP Datuk Jacob Dungau Sagan had also lamented the extent of erosion along the mighty Baram River caused by logging.
“More than 25,000 people living along the river and its tributaries are affected by floods because of the erosion.
“They may have to be relocated to safer grounds,” he said.
In Kapit, Ulu Rejang MP Datuk Billy Abit Joo said the once-beautiful rivers that run through his constituency have become rivers of mud because of the logging operations.
Lusong Laku Penan chief Tinggan Jati complained that the amount of sand and mud in the river had rendered these sources of water unfit for even washing.
Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) field officer for Sarawak, Jok Jau Evong, called on the Sarawak Forestry Corporation to be more efficient in stopping illegal logging and abuse of wildlife.
He said SAM had received complaints from natives living in the Mulu National Park that illegal logging was happening along the borders of this World Heritage Site.
Jok urged the state government to take a serious view of the AG’s report and take appropriate actions to remedy the problems cited in the report.
Monday October 26, 2009
Extent of damage to ecosystem can be seen from northern to central parts of Sarawak
By STEPHEN THEN
MIRI: The Auditor-General’s report detailing poor forest-management in Sarawak is certainly an eye-opener, but the report has merely scraped the surface of the actual extent of the massive environmental damage that overlogging and oil-palm projects have caused in rural Sarawak.
The extent of damage to the ecosystem can be seen from northern Sarawak all the way to the central parts of the state, and it is not only the non-governmental bodies that are up in arms over these woes, but also village community leaders, members of Parliament and state assemblymen from Barisan Nasional.
The Star had during various trips into the remote areas also found rivers, hills, valley basins and mountain slopes being badly affected by blatant land clearing, timber extraction and construction of logging trails.
Many rivers have become so polluted by mud debris from logging activities that they are no longer fit for use for cooking and drinking.
Rivers running through oil-palm estates have been poisoned by pesticides and palm oil effluents while erosion and siltation have resulted in constant floods that threatened tens of thousands of people.
Not safe: A tributary of the Linau River in central Sarawak that has been ravaged by logging. The water is undrinkable due to mud erosion and the river is clogged by timber debris, making boat rides dangerous. Many other rivers in Sarawak face similar problems due to excessive logging and oil palm projects.
The latest Auditor-General’s report named Sarawak, Pahang, Johor and Kelantan as the states that had fared badly in terms of forest management and enforcement of environmental laws.
The report said that these states are suffering serious degradation to their forests and environment that had caused severe increase in erosion, river degradation, landslides, destruction of flora and fauna and depletion of animal habitats.
The report also said that due to the lack of enforcement by the forest authorities, illegal logging had even been found in national parks and forests reserves.
Though the report did not mention specific areas in these states that are ravaged by environmental woes, The Star found many such places in Sarawak.
In the Lambir constituency south of Miri, rivers are so badly polluted by land clearing and oil-palm projects, riverine villagers have sounded alarm bells.
These woes were also brought up for discussion among political leaders during a meeting here.
State assemblyman Aidan Wing said villagers had complained that effluent from oil-palm estates was being dumped into nearby rivers.
“We (villagers) cannot rely on the rivers for drinking and cooking anymore because the water has been too seriously contaminated.
“The rivers were the main source of water for thousands of people. Now, these rivers are no longer safe. The villages need piped water supply from the water treatment plant.
“During the drought, thousands of people had to seek help from the Public Works Department to transport fresh water,” he said.
Wing appealed to State Public Utilities Minister Datuk Seri Awang Tengah Ali Hassan to seek funds to connect every longhouse and riverine settlements to the JKR Water Treatment plant in Lambir.
In the northern interior of Baram, its MP Datuk Jacob Dungau Sagan had also lamented the extent of erosion along the mighty Baram River caused by logging.
“More than 25,000 people living along the river and its tributaries are affected by floods because of the erosion.
“They may have to be relocated to safer grounds,” he said.
In Kapit, Ulu Rejang MP Datuk Billy Abit Joo said the once-beautiful rivers that run through his constituency have become rivers of mud because of the logging operations.
Lusong Laku Penan chief Tinggan Jati complained that the amount of sand and mud in the river had rendered these sources of water unfit for even washing.
Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) field officer for Sarawak, Jok Jau Evong, called on the Sarawak Forestry Corporation to be more efficient in stopping illegal logging and abuse of wildlife.
He said SAM had received complaints from natives living in the Mulu National Park that illegal logging was happening along the borders of this World Heritage Site.
Jok urged the state government to take a serious view of the AG’s report and take appropriate actions to remedy the problems cited in the report.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Secret power plan would devastate Sarawak's rainforest with 12 new hydropower plants
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0723-sarawak.html
Secret power plan would devastate Sarawak's rainforest with 12 new hydropower plants
mongabay.com
July 23, 2008
Environmentalists have called on the Malaysian government to develop a comprehensive energy policy, following the discovery of secret plans to build a network of power plants across interior Sarawak on the island of Borneo.
The confidential document, "Chinese Power Plants in Malaysia — Present and Future Development", was accidentally published on a Chinese web site. It details power projects planned for construction in Sarawak, between now and 2020, including two coal fired power plants and a dozen hydropower dams across Sarawak's rainforest.
According to Bruno-Manser-Fonds, a Malaysian NGO, "the dams could possibly submerge several Penan, Kelabit and Kenyah villages, potentially displacing at least a thousand people. One of the proposed dams, Tutoh dam, raises questions on whether Mulu National Park will be able to maintain the UNESCO World Heritage Site status as the dam may submerge parts of the national park."
Gurmit Singh, the chairman of Malaysia's Centre for the Environment, Technology & Development (CETDEM), said that the plans reflect inconsistencies in the country's energy and environment policies.
"It illustrates an energy planning strategy that is supply driven and inconsistent with the principles of sustainable development," he said. "At the same time, it fails to adequately factor in impending environmental threats such climate change, which is projected to cause water scarcity and ecosystem disruptions... We simply cannot mortgage our children and our grandchildren's future for the sake of short-term gains."
The proposed dams will increase Sarawak's generating capacity to many times that which is used by Sarawak's population. Bakun dam alone has the capacity to generate three times the amount of energy that is currently consumed by the state. Bakun dam, which is under construction, has the potential to generate 2400MW of electricity.
Secret power plan would devastate Sarawak's rainforest with 12 new hydropower plants
mongabay.com
July 23, 2008
Environmentalists have called on the Malaysian government to develop a comprehensive energy policy, following the discovery of secret plans to build a network of power plants across interior Sarawak on the island of Borneo.
The confidential document, "Chinese Power Plants in Malaysia — Present and Future Development", was accidentally published on a Chinese web site. It details power projects planned for construction in Sarawak, between now and 2020, including two coal fired power plants and a dozen hydropower dams across Sarawak's rainforest.
According to Bruno-Manser-Fonds, a Malaysian NGO, "the dams could possibly submerge several Penan, Kelabit and Kenyah villages, potentially displacing at least a thousand people. One of the proposed dams, Tutoh dam, raises questions on whether Mulu National Park will be able to maintain the UNESCO World Heritage Site status as the dam may submerge parts of the national park."
Gurmit Singh, the chairman of Malaysia's Centre for the Environment, Technology & Development (CETDEM), said that the plans reflect inconsistencies in the country's energy and environment policies.
"It illustrates an energy planning strategy that is supply driven and inconsistent with the principles of sustainable development," he said. "At the same time, it fails to adequately factor in impending environmental threats such climate change, which is projected to cause water scarcity and ecosystem disruptions... We simply cannot mortgage our children and our grandchildren's future for the sake of short-term gains."
The proposed dams will increase Sarawak's generating capacity to many times that which is used by Sarawak's population. Bakun dam alone has the capacity to generate three times the amount of energy that is currently consumed by the state. Bakun dam, which is under construction, has the potential to generate 2400MW of electricity.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Funding of historical sites proposed for 10MP
http://www.mysarawak.org/2009/07/18/funding-of-historical-sites-proposed-for-10mp.html
Funding of historical sites proposed for 10MP
Posted on 18 July 2009.
Sarawak Museum wants sites in Meligan, Kelabit and Bario highlands to be conserved, developed for posterity
KUCHING: Sarawak Museum is hoping to get funding from the federal government to preserve, conserve and develop historical sites in the Meligan, Kelabit and Bario highlands.
Its director Gilbert Ipoi Datan said the museum, through the Ministry of Urban Development and Tourism, had submitted a proposal for the project to be included in the Tenth Malaysia Plan.
“Hopefully, and God willing, we can get some federal funds so that the historical sites can be visited not only by the Kelabit and Lun Bawang people but also other ethnic groups and tourists,” he said.
Ipoi said with the funding, the museum would be able to properly identify the sites and put up signs to explain their significance and ask for cooperation from the people to help look after them.
“Also included in the proposed project are the building of some sort of protective sheds and fencing, rest stops and track links in between the historical sites,” he said when met during a dinner in a restaurant here Thursday.
The dinner was jointly hosted by Lun Bawang Association Kuching Branch and Rurum Kelabit Sarawak Kuching Branch in appreciation of and celebration of his appointment as the museum director and the appointment of Datu Ose Murang as permanent secretary to the Ministry of Urban Development and Tourism.
Ipoi, who is the first Lun Bawang to head the State Museum, said an information centre would also be set up either in Bario or Ba Kelalan.
“With the cooperation of Sarah Hitchner (a student from the University of Georgia, United States doing a PhD degree in ecological anthropology) and the Forest Department, we have more or less identified and documented more than 250 sites and with the funds from the federal government, we can preserve and develop them,” he said.
Earlier in his speech, Ipoi thanked Ose, former state minister Datuk Sri Balan Seling and others for their continuous support and guidance.
He also welcomed constructive criticisms
and suggestions from the public regarding the activities carried out by the museum.
On his part, Ose expressed his and Ipoi’s gratitude to the state government for entrusting them with the big responsibilities.
The former Miri Resident also thanked everybody including mentors Gerald Lee for the academic guidance and Balan for his political guidance, encouragement and support through the years.
“We will continue to work closely with the Kelabits and Lun Bawangs on issues that are important to them,” he said.
Rurum Kelabit Sarawak president Gerawat Gala and Lun Bawang Association Kuching branch vice-chairman Petrus Asai were among those present at the dinner.
Funding of historical sites proposed for 10MP
Posted on 18 July 2009.
Sarawak Museum wants sites in Meligan, Kelabit and Bario highlands to be conserved, developed for posterity
KUCHING: Sarawak Museum is hoping to get funding from the federal government to preserve, conserve and develop historical sites in the Meligan, Kelabit and Bario highlands.
Its director Gilbert Ipoi Datan said the museum, through the Ministry of Urban Development and Tourism, had submitted a proposal for the project to be included in the Tenth Malaysia Plan.
“Hopefully, and God willing, we can get some federal funds so that the historical sites can be visited not only by the Kelabit and Lun Bawang people but also other ethnic groups and tourists,” he said.
Ipoi said with the funding, the museum would be able to properly identify the sites and put up signs to explain their significance and ask for cooperation from the people to help look after them.
“Also included in the proposed project are the building of some sort of protective sheds and fencing, rest stops and track links in between the historical sites,” he said when met during a dinner in a restaurant here Thursday.
The dinner was jointly hosted by Lun Bawang Association Kuching Branch and Rurum Kelabit Sarawak Kuching Branch in appreciation of and celebration of his appointment as the museum director and the appointment of Datu Ose Murang as permanent secretary to the Ministry of Urban Development and Tourism.
Ipoi, who is the first Lun Bawang to head the State Museum, said an information centre would also be set up either in Bario or Ba Kelalan.
“With the cooperation of Sarah Hitchner (a student from the University of Georgia, United States doing a PhD degree in ecological anthropology) and the Forest Department, we have more or less identified and documented more than 250 sites and with the funds from the federal government, we can preserve and develop them,” he said.
Earlier in his speech, Ipoi thanked Ose, former state minister Datuk Sri Balan Seling and others for their continuous support and guidance.
He also welcomed constructive criticisms
and suggestions from the public regarding the activities carried out by the museum.
On his part, Ose expressed his and Ipoi’s gratitude to the state government for entrusting them with the big responsibilities.
The former Miri Resident also thanked everybody including mentors Gerald Lee for the academic guidance and Balan for his political guidance, encouragement and support through the years.
“We will continue to work closely with the Kelabits and Lun Bawangs on issues that are important to them,” he said.
Rurum Kelabit Sarawak president Gerawat Gala and Lun Bawang Association Kuching branch vice-chairman Petrus Asai were among those present at the dinner.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
High price of cooking oil confuses Bario villagers
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/7/11/nation/4290529&sec=nation
Saturday July 11, 2009
High price of cooking oil confuses Bario villagers
By STEPHEN THEN
MIRI: The price of cooking oil in the interior highlands of Bario in northern Sarawak has skyrocketed to almost RM15 per kg, compared to between RM6 and RM6.50 in urban areas here.
It was sold at about RM8 to RM10 per kg in Bario last year.
Rural folk in the highland regions, who are mostly living below the poverty line, find it hard to grasp the situation.
The Star met yesterday with a group of Penans from Pa’tih and Long Selaan – remote villages in the Bario highlands – who are struggling with the high costs of consumer products.
Housewife Rose Melai, who came to Miri to seek medical help for her daughter, said: “My husband is a padi planter. I have no job. We have four school-going children.
“Our family is already paying a lot for diesel fuel (RM8 per litre in Bario) just to operate our generators.”
Now, she has to fork out even more just to buy cooking oil every month.
“In some of our settlements, traders sell one kg of cooking oil at RM12. In places upstream of Pa’tih, the price can be RM15 per kg.”
She questioned why the prices always went up “all the time” in Bario.
“I heard from the people living in Miri that the Government had not announced any increase in cooking oil price. Why did it go up in Bario?” she asked.
Pa’tih is located two days by foot from Bario Village; Bario is 480km from Miri city.
Pangai Lusang, a Penan farmer from Long Selaan, said even sugar which was priced at RM5 per kg was costly.
“Businessmen always say the high prices are due to high transportation costs. But from what I know, the Government had not increased the price of diesel (since last year),” he said.
An enforcement officer from the Miri Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Department, when contacted, said the transportation arrangements to send goods into the interior from urban cities and Sarawak towns was not under the ministry’s jurisdiction.
“It is the Resident’s Office and the respective wakil rakyat who are handling the issue concerning transportation.
“They are supposed to appoint transporters who can give reasonable charges.”
He said the authorities were supposed to subsidise transportation costs so that the prices of goods sent to the interior would be on par with those sold in urban areas.
“However, up to now, these transportation issues have not been sorted out as yet,” he said.
Saturday July 11, 2009
High price of cooking oil confuses Bario villagers
By STEPHEN THEN
MIRI: The price of cooking oil in the interior highlands of Bario in northern Sarawak has skyrocketed to almost RM15 per kg, compared to between RM6 and RM6.50 in urban areas here.
It was sold at about RM8 to RM10 per kg in Bario last year.
Rural folk in the highland regions, who are mostly living below the poverty line, find it hard to grasp the situation.
The Star met yesterday with a group of Penans from Pa’tih and Long Selaan – remote villages in the Bario highlands – who are struggling with the high costs of consumer products.
Housewife Rose Melai, who came to Miri to seek medical help for her daughter, said: “My husband is a padi planter. I have no job. We have four school-going children.
“Our family is already paying a lot for diesel fuel (RM8 per litre in Bario) just to operate our generators.”
Now, she has to fork out even more just to buy cooking oil every month.
“In some of our settlements, traders sell one kg of cooking oil at RM12. In places upstream of Pa’tih, the price can be RM15 per kg.”
She questioned why the prices always went up “all the time” in Bario.
“I heard from the people living in Miri that the Government had not announced any increase in cooking oil price. Why did it go up in Bario?” she asked.
Pa’tih is located two days by foot from Bario Village; Bario is 480km from Miri city.
Pangai Lusang, a Penan farmer from Long Selaan, said even sugar which was priced at RM5 per kg was costly.
“Businessmen always say the high prices are due to high transportation costs. But from what I know, the Government had not increased the price of diesel (since last year),” he said.
An enforcement officer from the Miri Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Department, when contacted, said the transportation arrangements to send goods into the interior from urban cities and Sarawak towns was not under the ministry’s jurisdiction.
“It is the Resident’s Office and the respective wakil rakyat who are handling the issue concerning transportation.
“They are supposed to appoint transporters who can give reasonable charges.”
He said the authorities were supposed to subsidise transportation costs so that the prices of goods sent to the interior would be on par with those sold in urban areas.
“However, up to now, these transportation issues have not been sorted out as yet,” he said.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
E-Bario for more Sarawak outposts
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/7/8/nation/4272153&sec=nation
Wednesday July 8, 2009
E-Bario for more Sarawak outposts
KUCHING: The successful e-Bario project in the Kelabit Highlands of northern Sarawak will be implemented in four other remote settlements in Sabah and Sarawak.
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) deputy vice-chancellor (research and information) Prof Peter Songan said the e-Bario model would be used in Ba’kelalan and Long Lamai in Sarawak, Buayan near Penam pang and a yet to be identified settlement in Tawau district in Sabah.
“We have done the groundwork,” he told reporters after the opening of the sixth international conference on information technology in Asia at the Kuching Hilton yesterday.
Prof Songan said Unimas had worked with Universiti Malaysia Sabah and a non-governmental organisation for the projects in Sabah.
The four projects are funded by a RM4mil grant from the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry.
Prof Songan said the projects would be implemented through regular dialogues with the villagers and based on their needs. Training the villagers in ICT would also be carried out.
Prof Songan said Unimas’ e-Bario project, which connects the Kelabit Highlands to the world through an information and communication telecentre, has benefited about 5,000 villagers, including students.
The project, which was implemented in 2000, has won numerous international IT awards.
At present, the people of Bario are able to independently maintain the telecentre and related equipment.
Prof Songan said Unimas was now working to upgrade e-Bario to a pilot model broadband network site for rural communities.
Wednesday July 8, 2009
E-Bario for more Sarawak outposts
KUCHING: The successful e-Bario project in the Kelabit Highlands of northern Sarawak will be implemented in four other remote settlements in Sabah and Sarawak.
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) deputy vice-chancellor (research and information) Prof Peter Songan said the e-Bario model would be used in Ba’kelalan and Long Lamai in Sarawak, Buayan near Penam pang and a yet to be identified settlement in Tawau district in Sabah.
“We have done the groundwork,” he told reporters after the opening of the sixth international conference on information technology in Asia at the Kuching Hilton yesterday.
Prof Songan said Unimas had worked with Universiti Malaysia Sabah and a non-governmental organisation for the projects in Sabah.
The four projects are funded by a RM4mil grant from the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry.
Prof Songan said the projects would be implemented through regular dialogues with the villagers and based on their needs. Training the villagers in ICT would also be carried out.
Prof Songan said Unimas’ e-Bario project, which connects the Kelabit Highlands to the world through an information and communication telecentre, has benefited about 5,000 villagers, including students.
The project, which was implemented in 2000, has won numerous international IT awards.
At present, the people of Bario are able to independently maintain the telecentre and related equipment.
Prof Songan said Unimas was now working to upgrade e-Bario to a pilot model broadband network site for rural communities.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
ICT to preserve indigenous traditional knowledge
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/7/7/nation/20090707122037&sec=nation
Published: Tuesday July 7, 2009 MYT 12:18:00 PM
Updated: Tuesday July 7, 2009 MYT 12:19:11 PM
ICT to preserve indigenous traditional knowledge
By JACK WONG
jackwong@thestar.com.my
KUCHING: Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud wants the traditional knowledge of the state’s nearly 30 ethnic groups to be preserved through the use of information and communication technology (ICT).
He said many of these ethnic groups passed down knowledge orally from one generation to the next, through stories and songs for example.
“There is much to be learnt from these communities, the knowledge they have on health, history and way of life,” he said in a speech to open the sixth international conference on information technology in Asia at Kuching Hilton Tuesday.
Taib’s text of speech was read by his deputy Tan Sri Dr George Chan Hong Nam.
Taib urged Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), which organised the four-day conference, and other research institutions to identify ways in which ICT could be used to preserve traditional knowledge.
“There is a need, for example, to enhance speech-recognition technologies to speed up the process of converting speech to text so that the text can be stored and analysed.”
He said machine translation software, which Unimas was doing research on, should be developed for local languages.
The move, he added, would enable indigenous languages to be translated to English.
Taib commended Unimas for its successful e-Bario project, which enabled students and villagers in the Kelabit highland in northern Sarawak to connect to the world through ICT telecentres.
He said as the state was still short of competent and skilled IT and engineering professionals, Unimas could play a vital role in human resource development programmes.
“Unimas will be at the heart of the state’s Multimedia Super Corridor activities, particularly looking at the incubation facilities for technology startups and in addressing the state’s human resource development needs.
“This would assist very much in the Sarawak Corridor for Renewable Energy project which aims to create 1.6 million jobs with 10 social and commercial sectors to be opened up,” said Taib.
Published: Tuesday July 7, 2009 MYT 12:18:00 PM
Updated: Tuesday July 7, 2009 MYT 12:19:11 PM
ICT to preserve indigenous traditional knowledge
By JACK WONG
jackwong@thestar.com.my
KUCHING: Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud wants the traditional knowledge of the state’s nearly 30 ethnic groups to be preserved through the use of information and communication technology (ICT).
He said many of these ethnic groups passed down knowledge orally from one generation to the next, through stories and songs for example.
“There is much to be learnt from these communities, the knowledge they have on health, history and way of life,” he said in a speech to open the sixth international conference on information technology in Asia at Kuching Hilton Tuesday.
Taib’s text of speech was read by his deputy Tan Sri Dr George Chan Hong Nam.
Taib urged Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), which organised the four-day conference, and other research institutions to identify ways in which ICT could be used to preserve traditional knowledge.
“There is a need, for example, to enhance speech-recognition technologies to speed up the process of converting speech to text so that the text can be stored and analysed.”
He said machine translation software, which Unimas was doing research on, should be developed for local languages.
The move, he added, would enable indigenous languages to be translated to English.
Taib commended Unimas for its successful e-Bario project, which enabled students and villagers in the Kelabit highland in northern Sarawak to connect to the world through ICT telecentres.
He said as the state was still short of competent and skilled IT and engineering professionals, Unimas could play a vital role in human resource development programmes.
“Unimas will be at the heart of the state’s Multimedia Super Corridor activities, particularly looking at the incubation facilities for technology startups and in addressing the state’s human resource development needs.
“This would assist very much in the Sarawak Corridor for Renewable Energy project which aims to create 1.6 million jobs with 10 social and commercial sectors to be opened up,” said Taib.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Kelabit co-invents fastest LET, LED
http://www.malaysianmirror.com/nationaldetail/6-national/1818-kelabit-co-invents-fastest-let-led
Kelabit co-invents fastest LET, LED
Thursday, 18 June 2009 14:55
KUALA LUMPUR - A young Kelabit put Malaysia on the forefront of environmental technology by co-inventing the world's fastest Light Emitting Transistor (LET) and Light Emitting Diode (LED).
Gabriel Walter, 32, who holds a bachelor and master's degree as well as a doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign (UIUC) in the United States, scored both a national and personal breakthrough in technology by co-inventing light emitters capable of transmitting at speeds of up to 7GHz.
This translates into technology that is capable of conserving a massive amount of energy, in an age where every country is trying to come up with renewable sources and conserve whatever is available.
For more than 40 years, the scientific community believed that light devices cannot be operated at bandwidths larger than 1 GHz.
However, Walter, through collaboration between his own company Quantum Electro Opto Systems (QEOS) Sdn Bhd and a research team from his alma mater, came up with the technology that defied 40 years of scientific norm.
It took over five years of research but the QEOS-UIUC team proved that it was possible to operate LET at 4.3GHz and LED at 7GHz.
According to US-based Walter, the QEOS gigabit speed LED was unique as it was cost-efficient to make and its implementation was "as effortless as the light bulb". "It will introduce a pricing pressure and impact not seen before in the data communication and consumer electronic market. And for some fibre optic implementations, the LEDs consume 90 per cent less power compared to existing optical solutions," he said in a media release Wednesday.
He said the high-speed LEDs would enable a new class of cost-competitive "green" products that were not only environmentally friendly but aesthetically pleasing as well. "Those thick ugly cables that usually come with your high-definition television and monitors will be things of the past," he said.
Breakthrough technology
The research was funded by an agency under the United States Department of Defence for the development of new technology for use by the US military.
Walter, from Kuching, Sarawak, scored his second success when the research was selected for publication in the June 15 edition of the Applied Physics Letter, the most widely-circulated technical journals in the world. Only 52 of over 10,000 papers submitted to the Applied Physics Letter annually were selected to be on the cover.
Just how big is this achievement?
"It is a major achievement to be featured in this publication for our success of the 4.3GHz high-speed LET as the device has an additional capability to integrate optoelectronics. It will do the same to the world of optoelectronics like what transistors did to the world of electronics. The potential applications are essentially limitless," he said.
At least four important patents have been jointly filed by the QEOS-UIUC team to protect these discoveries.
QEOS is based in Ayer Keroh, Melaka, and incorporated in May 2008 through the Brain Gain Malaysia Programme, an experimental initiative under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI).
Its founders include Prof Nick Holonyak Jr, recognised globally as the Father of the Optoelectronic Industry and inventor of LED and Prof Milton Feng, world-renowed microwave technology expert and current record holder for the world's fastest transistor.
Walter said it was almost a year before the founders accepted the challenge to commercialise the technology from within Malaysia. "Personally, I had to make sure that the government would be as committed as I would be to the programme. We have been very fortunate to work with dedicated people from MOSTI, MIDA (Malaysian Industrial Development Agency) and MDV (Malaysia Debt Ventures Berhad)," he said.
Malaysian manufactured components
Walter said at least 30 per cent of the components used to manufacture the products resulting from this new achievement would be from Malaysia-based companies as they would like to help generate business activities for local suppliers.
He disclosed that the research and development (R&D) facility in Melaka would be developed and improved over the next five years to cater for work on advanced product and application development, device characterisation and analysis as well as device layout and design, among others.
"Melaka will be the QEOS headquarters for R&D. We are currently lining up the necessary investments from both local and foreign sources to make this happen," he said.
The Brain Gain Malaysia (BGM) programme encourages Malaysian scientists and researchers residing abroad and working on high-impact, commercial-ready technology, to return and help accelerate Malaysia's transformation into an innovation-led economy. - Bernama
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kelabit co-invents fastest LET, LED
Thursday, 18 June 2009 14:55
KUALA LUMPUR - A young Kelabit put Malaysia on the forefront of environmental technology by co-inventing the world's fastest Light Emitting Transistor (LET) and Light Emitting Diode (LED).
Gabriel Walter, 32, who holds a bachelor and master's degree as well as a doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign (UIUC) in the United States, scored both a national and personal breakthrough in technology by co-inventing light emitters capable of transmitting at speeds of up to 7GHz.
This translates into technology that is capable of conserving a massive amount of energy, in an age where every country is trying to come up with renewable sources and conserve whatever is available.
For more than 40 years, the scientific community believed that light devices cannot be operated at bandwidths larger than 1 GHz.
However, Walter, through collaboration between his own company Quantum Electro Opto Systems (QEOS) Sdn Bhd and a research team from his alma mater, came up with the technology that defied 40 years of scientific norm.
It took over five years of research but the QEOS-UIUC team proved that it was possible to operate LET at 4.3GHz and LED at 7GHz.
According to US-based Walter, the QEOS gigabit speed LED was unique as it was cost-efficient to make and its implementation was "as effortless as the light bulb". "It will introduce a pricing pressure and impact not seen before in the data communication and consumer electronic market. And for some fibre optic implementations, the LEDs consume 90 per cent less power compared to existing optical solutions," he said in a media release Wednesday.
He said the high-speed LEDs would enable a new class of cost-competitive "green" products that were not only environmentally friendly but aesthetically pleasing as well. "Those thick ugly cables that usually come with your high-definition television and monitors will be things of the past," he said.
Breakthrough technology
The research was funded by an agency under the United States Department of Defence for the development of new technology for use by the US military.
Walter, from Kuching, Sarawak, scored his second success when the research was selected for publication in the June 15 edition of the Applied Physics Letter, the most widely-circulated technical journals in the world. Only 52 of over 10,000 papers submitted to the Applied Physics Letter annually were selected to be on the cover.
Just how big is this achievement?
"It is a major achievement to be featured in this publication for our success of the 4.3GHz high-speed LET as the device has an additional capability to integrate optoelectronics. It will do the same to the world of optoelectronics like what transistors did to the world of electronics. The potential applications are essentially limitless," he said.
At least four important patents have been jointly filed by the QEOS-UIUC team to protect these discoveries.
QEOS is based in Ayer Keroh, Melaka, and incorporated in May 2008 through the Brain Gain Malaysia Programme, an experimental initiative under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI).
Its founders include Prof Nick Holonyak Jr, recognised globally as the Father of the Optoelectronic Industry and inventor of LED and Prof Milton Feng, world-renowed microwave technology expert and current record holder for the world's fastest transistor.
Walter said it was almost a year before the founders accepted the challenge to commercialise the technology from within Malaysia. "Personally, I had to make sure that the government would be as committed as I would be to the programme. We have been very fortunate to work with dedicated people from MOSTI, MIDA (Malaysian Industrial Development Agency) and MDV (Malaysia Debt Ventures Berhad)," he said.
Malaysian manufactured components
Walter said at least 30 per cent of the components used to manufacture the products resulting from this new achievement would be from Malaysia-based companies as they would like to help generate business activities for local suppliers.
He disclosed that the research and development (R&D) facility in Melaka would be developed and improved over the next five years to cater for work on advanced product and application development, device characterisation and analysis as well as device layout and design, among others.
"Melaka will be the QEOS headquarters for R&D. We are currently lining up the necessary investments from both local and foreign sources to make this happen," he said.
The Brain Gain Malaysia (BGM) programme encourages Malaysian scientists and researchers residing abroad and working on high-impact, commercial-ready technology, to return and help accelerate Malaysia's transformation into an innovation-led economy. - Bernama
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Sarawak to preserve burial poles
Grand sight: File pic showing a magnificent twin carved poles with an elaborate salong (burial hut) which is on display at the Sarawak Museum. It was originally made by a Kayan chieftain in the Belaga area for his daughter in the mid 19th century and was presented by the Belaga folks to the museum in 1973. The poles, mostly found in the interior, have different names like klireng, klidieng, salong, jerunai and pagol.
Wednesday June 3, 2009
Sarawak to preserve burial poles
KUCHING: Sarawak will preserve burial poles which the native tribes used to bury the dead in the old days.
The Sarawak Museum is carrying out a survey on the different types of burial poles, said state Urban Development and Tourism Minister Datuk Michael Manyin.
Manyin said that once the survey was completed, the museum would draw up a management plan to preserve the various burial poles.
The museum was also carrying out surveys on, and documenting cultural sites in the Bario Highlands – the heartland of the Orang Ulus – in northern Sarawak.
The joint study, entitled the “Cultural Rainforest”, was being undertaken in collaboration with British universities like Cambridge and Oxford.
“The study will shed light on the history and present day use of the forest as a material and cultural landscape in the highlands,’’ Manyin said.
“It will also give direction and guidelines on how best to manage, preserve and develop the various cultural sites, especially the megaliths and rock engravings.”
The state was bestowed with unique and interesting historical and cultural legacy, he said, adding that it had gazetted 36 historical buildings and sites as historical monuments.
The museum plans to open a Natural History gallery here in November to display the state’s rich natural heritage.
State approves solar-wind power plant for Bario Highlands
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/6/3/nation/4032782&sec=nation
Wednesday June 3, 2009
State approves solar-wind power plant for Bario Highlands
MIRI: The state government has given the green light for a pioneer plant in the Bario Highlands to generate electricity from sunlight and wind – to replace a RM10mil hydro-electric dam which failed for lack of water.
The project, the first of its kind in the state, will use a combination of solar and wind energy to generate power for use in the 2,000m-high mountainous region at the Sarawak-Kalimantan border.
State Public Utilities Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan said the state Cabinet had recently decided that solar-wind power was the best option for the highlands.
“The failed hydro-electric dam project will be replaced by this hybrid plant,’’ he told a gathering at the Kelabit and Lun Bawang Highlanders Club here on Monday night.
“However, there may be a need to build a few micro-hydrodams to generate power for villages that are far away.”
The Bario Highlands, located some 300km from Miri, is home to 6,000 people.
In the early 1990s, the state government built the dam to generate electricity for the folks there who had to rely on diesel fuel to power their generators.
However, the dam failed to function due to low river water pressure. The state authorities tried in vain to revive the project, including enlisting the help of dam experts.
Two years ago, a proposal was made to build another hydro-electric dam to replace the one which failed.
However, the state Cabinet has now decided that the best option would be the hybrid solar-wind plant because the highlands have plenty of sunshine and wind for most of the year.
Wednesday June 3, 2009
State approves solar-wind power plant for Bario Highlands
MIRI: The state government has given the green light for a pioneer plant in the Bario Highlands to generate electricity from sunlight and wind – to replace a RM10mil hydro-electric dam which failed for lack of water.
The project, the first of its kind in the state, will use a combination of solar and wind energy to generate power for use in the 2,000m-high mountainous region at the Sarawak-Kalimantan border.
State Public Utilities Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan said the state Cabinet had recently decided that solar-wind power was the best option for the highlands.
“The failed hydro-electric dam project will be replaced by this hybrid plant,’’ he told a gathering at the Kelabit and Lun Bawang Highlanders Club here on Monday night.
“However, there may be a need to build a few micro-hydrodams to generate power for villages that are far away.”
The Bario Highlands, located some 300km from Miri, is home to 6,000 people.
In the early 1990s, the state government built the dam to generate electricity for the folks there who had to rely on diesel fuel to power their generators.
However, the dam failed to function due to low river water pressure. The state authorities tried in vain to revive the project, including enlisting the help of dam experts.
Two years ago, a proposal was made to build another hydro-electric dam to replace the one which failed.
However, the state Cabinet has now decided that the best option would be the hybrid solar-wind plant because the highlands have plenty of sunshine and wind for most of the year.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Homestay operators urged to link up with Tourism Ministry
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/5/26/nation/3978645&sec=nation
Tuesday May 26, 2009
Homestay operators urged to link up with Tourism Ministry
KUCHING: Villagers interested in running a homestay programme should register with the Tourism Ministry to enjoy benefits such as marketing, promotion and upgrading of their facilities.
“They are normally given a certain amount, for instance to improve their toilets, and we will help promote them in our brochures,” said state Urban Development and Tourism Minister Datuk Michael Manyin.
“If they are not registered, we cannot help them. So we encourage them to register,” he told reporters after opening a baruk (traditional Bidayuh community hall) at Kampung Benuk near here yesterday.
There are currently 232 registered homestay operators in 19 villages throughout Sarawak.
The programme is regulated by the Tourism Ministry through the State Tourism Action Council.
Manyin also said Sarawak planned to intensively promote the homestay programme to foreign tourists in the next few years.
“We can offer tourists something different in terms of lifestyle, culture and food available, through our homestay programme,” he said.
Meanwhile, state Tourism Action Council manager Mohd Tuah Jais said the Tourism Ministry recently upgraded the toilet facilities of all homestay operators in Sarawak at a cost of up to RM5,000 each.
In addition, the ministry had come up with common signboards for homestay operators which were being distributed now.
He said 10,480 visitors stayed with 197 homestay operators in Sarawak last year, bringing in a total revenue of about RM500,000.
He added that in the first two months of this year, the homestay programme attracted 5,632 visitors who generated about RM100,000 in revenue.
“Travellers these days are going for experience rather than just to have a holiday. They want to live with the local people for a richer experience, so they go for homestay,” he said.
Earlier, Kampung Benuk community leader Bundu Suwap said the village started a homestay programme in 2005 with seven operators.
He said the programme received 2,695 visitors in 2005, while last year, it had 2,890 visitors.
Bundu added that the baruk, built with a RM150,000 allocation from the ministry, was part of an upgrading project to improve the attractions in the village.
Tuesday May 26, 2009
Homestay operators urged to link up with Tourism Ministry
KUCHING: Villagers interested in running a homestay programme should register with the Tourism Ministry to enjoy benefits such as marketing, promotion and upgrading of their facilities.
“They are normally given a certain amount, for instance to improve their toilets, and we will help promote them in our brochures,” said state Urban Development and Tourism Minister Datuk Michael Manyin.
“If they are not registered, we cannot help them. So we encourage them to register,” he told reporters after opening a baruk (traditional Bidayuh community hall) at Kampung Benuk near here yesterday.
There are currently 232 registered homestay operators in 19 villages throughout Sarawak.
The programme is regulated by the Tourism Ministry through the State Tourism Action Council.
Manyin also said Sarawak planned to intensively promote the homestay programme to foreign tourists in the next few years.
“We can offer tourists something different in terms of lifestyle, culture and food available, through our homestay programme,” he said.
Meanwhile, state Tourism Action Council manager Mohd Tuah Jais said the Tourism Ministry recently upgraded the toilet facilities of all homestay operators in Sarawak at a cost of up to RM5,000 each.
In addition, the ministry had come up with common signboards for homestay operators which were being distributed now.
He said 10,480 visitors stayed with 197 homestay operators in Sarawak last year, bringing in a total revenue of about RM500,000.
He added that in the first two months of this year, the homestay programme attracted 5,632 visitors who generated about RM100,000 in revenue.
“Travellers these days are going for experience rather than just to have a holiday. They want to live with the local people for a richer experience, so they go for homestay,” he said.
Earlier, Kampung Benuk community leader Bundu Suwap said the village started a homestay programme in 2005 with seven operators.
He said the programme received 2,695 visitors in 2005, while last year, it had 2,890 visitors.
Bundu added that the baruk, built with a RM150,000 allocation from the ministry, was part of an upgrading project to improve the attractions in the village.
Friday, May 8, 2009
High Commissioner, Boyd McCleary visits Bario, Sarawak
http://ukinmalaysia.fco.gov.uk/en/news/?view=News&id=17454331
Last updated at 5:56 (UK time) 8 May 2009 Press centre
High Commissioner, Boyd McCleary visits Bario, Sarawak
08 May 2009
Boyd McCleary recounts his experience in Bario, home of the Kelabit tribe
One of the most fascinating books I have read since coming to Malaysia is "The World Within" by Tom Harrisson. It tells of the year Harrisson spent in a long-house in Bario, recruiting the locals to rise up against the Japanese occupying forces, when the Allies landed. Bario is the place where the renowned Bario rice is grown. But where exactly is it? I found out recently, when I spent a couple of days there in the course of a visit to Sarawak. When I told a "Star" reporter about my impressions, he invited me to write them down, as he thought they might be of wider interest. So here goes.
The first thing to note about Bario is that it is not served by any road. So the only way to get there is on foot (a two month walk from Miri), by river (a couple of weeks up from Marudi) or by air. I chose the last option and took an ancient, but very reliable Twin Otter (designed and built in Canada for bush flying) from Miri. On check-in I was surprised to discover that not only my baggage had to be weighed, but also me. This was so that they could judge how much weight was still available for cargo. Because the rear half of the aircraft was stuffed with cardboard boxes bringing everything conceivable up to Bario.
At 6'5", I had a bit of difficulty squeezing in. But they gave me the front row and I managed to stretch my legs into the gap between the pilot and co-pilot. We stopped off in Marudi and had to spend a while there waiting for the cloud to clear. But luckily we met up with Lucy, a school principal in Miri, who was to be one of our hosts and we started to learn about what lay in store. When we eventually did get off the ground, Lucy was also able to talk us through some of the sights on the way, in particular the twin peaks of Batu Lawi which we saw off to the left. The cloud cover had lifted and we had good views as we came in to land on what seemed to be a remarkably small strip of concrete, a postage stamp in the centre of a big valley, surrounded by high mountains, some of them in Indonesian Kalimantan.
Bario sits at around 3,000 feet. The Kelabit have lived there for thousands of years. It is not that many generations ago that they were head-hunters, but for many years they have practised settled agriculture, first using slash and burn methods to grow their rice and other crops, but now using padi, as they have learned the techniques of irrigation. The rice is still sweet and fragrant. Sadly, however, there are no longer enough people in the community to look after it and many of the fields are falling into disrepair. Less than 2,000 Kelabit now live in Bario, the rest of the population of 6,000 having moved into the bigger towns and cities of Sarawak and West Malaysia
Bario Airport is charming. We were greeted personally at the bottom of the aircraft steps by a lovely lady who was in charge of virtually everything, as far as I could see. She escorted me to a waiting line of community representatives, many of them ladies with beautiful beaded skull-caps (handed down apparently from generation to generation), who presented me with a bead necklace and invited me to drink the juice from a locally grown pineapple. It turns out that Bario produces some of the sweetest and best pineapples in the world, for reasons which are not quite clear to agro-science. I ended up bringing a box-load home!
One of the welcoming party was Gerawat Gala, President of the Kelabit Association, who had flown in specially from Kuching (where he is a high-powered lawyer with Zaid Ibrahim) to look after me. It's been some time since a British High Commissioner visited! Gerawat introduced me to the community elders, including Henry, the father of Idris Jala, CEO of Malaysian Airlines, who was born and brought up in the community and made his way into the big wide world via Shell, who have their Asia-Pacific Headquarters in Miri. When I had met Idris in KL a few months ago, he had encouraged me warmly to visit his home community and now it was happening.
One of the amazing things about Bario is the number of brilliant people the valley has produced! Businessmen, academics, doctors, lawyers and teachers! And yet until 1945 there was no school in the community and no-one had ever had any chance to study. Tom Harrisson helped change all that. After the war, he stayed on in Bario and built the first primary school, subsequently followed by a middle school, which takes the children up to 16, after which they have to move down to Marudi or Miri, where they board. Incidentally Harrisson later became Curator of the Sarawak Museum in Kuching, one of the best small museums in the region.
My first engagement in Bario was lunch at Lucy’s Home Stay. This was an opportunity to talk to the community elders. And boy can they talk! They talked about the days of the White Rajas, Harrisson and the Second World War (a second-hand memory now for almost everyone), the incorporation of Sarawak into Malaysia in 1963 (Bario voted against; they were quite happy with British rule), the Confrontation (Bario was one of the bases for Commonwealth troops) and the way the community had changed over the years, as more and more young people had left.
Then we headed off for a tour of the community, which consists of a few long-houses and increasing numbers of individual dwellings, all interspersed with rice fields. The town centre is pretty modest and the only building with a sign outside is the e-Bario, a pilot project run my UNIMAS to bring the internet into rural areas. We visited the primary school, where the children put on an impressive show of local dance, and the middle school, where Gerawat explained what it had been like for him as one of the first pupils to move through and on to university. Between the schools is the site for a new community hall, which Shell are helping to fund.
Above is a hill, from where you can get the best view of Bario. Sitting there for a few moments gave a real sense of peace and well-being. The only disturbance is the distant sound of bulldozers, pushing a logging trail toward Bario, a trail which could change the life of the community for good. But visible too is land now gazette as a new state national park, Pulong Tau, shaped like a violin. There are apparently plans afoot to extend the width of the violin and take the park across the border into Kalimantan, as part of the ambitious and highly important Heart of Borneo project, the aim of which is to create a protected zone covering 200,000 square km of Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei, an area nearly the size of the UK.
Near the top of the hill is a small museum, housed in one simple room, which tells Bario’s story through pictures and artifacts. One thing that caught my attention was a set of photographs and sketches describing the work by a group of UK universities, including my own alma mater Queen’s Belfast, in mapping the stone megaliths which lie in the hills surrounding the settlement. Megaliths which, when dated, may help the Kelabit demonstrate the extent of territory in which they held sway.
In the afternoon Gerawat suggests that we trek to the salt spring. So we switch into hiking gear and head off along a narrow winding track that takes us past some rice fields (now cared for by Indonesian labourers), past a tiny church (virtually the whole Kelabit community are Christian), across the river and through the site of the old long-house, which was abandoned because of flooding and now stands empty. The timber was taken to re-build at a new site.
Nearby we are shown the place where a Royal Navy Whirlwind helicopter came down during Confrontation. The helicopters were used to ferry troops – SAS, Gurkhas, Royal Green Jackets (the villagers remember the individual regiments!) – to the points along the border where Indonesian irregulars came across. Gerawat remembers Confrontation as an exciting time for him as a boy, who was roped in by the soldiers to carry supplies and ammunition, One account of Bario tells also of the rowdy life-style of the squaddies, who created a different impression of the white man from that of the Australian missionaries, who had come a few years earlier.
We walk past the turn-off to the Indonesian border and arrive soon at the salt spring. Gerawat explains that some years ago a hunter picked up a blowpipe dart that had missed its target. When he licked the dart to clean it, he noticed a salty taste and discovered a source of salty water. The community, who had till then had to trade for salt with the outside world, decided to use the spring to create their own local supply. So they built a small dam, now a well surrounded by concrete, and every week one family gets the chance to make salt.
But how? What happens is that the family whose turn it is collects firewood from the surrounding area (a huge task, as they have to keep two fires lit for the full week) and stores this in the make-shift hut by the spring. Salt water is gathered in a bucket and poured into large cooking pots, which are then placed on the fires and left there till all the water has evaporated, leaving the salt in the bottom. This salt is taken and decanted into bamboo tubes (also pre-prepared) and left to dry in the warm environment of the hut (where the temperature is stifling and we are all sweating profusely). When dry, these tubes are sealed up and wrapped in a leaf and tied off with natural twine.
Local hospitality is such that I was given one of these tubes. I hesitate to accept given the amount of time, energy and sweat it has cost, but Gerawat tells me it would be rude to refuse. I thank the family and wish them well for the rest of their week’s hard labour. And we set off home. The return journey is quicker than the outward leg, as Gerawat has arranged for us to be picked up by a local boatman, who takes us back along the river to our starting point.
Home for the night is “Gem's Lodge”, a Home Stay house owned by Gerawat (he plans to retire there) and managed by members of his family. After changing out of our hiking gear, we enjoy a delicious cold beer on the terrace overlooking the river. Then there is a wonderful supper for the whole village, cooked communally, after which a cultural evening is promised. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. But it turned out to be a mixture of song and dance involving everyone. The old ladies led the singing, as they were the ones who knew the words, many of them in an older form of Kelabit which the younger people didn’t fully understand.
One of the high points was the the Kelabit “Warrior Dance”, performed initially by a young man from the long-house, wearing a goat skin adorned with feathers and wielding a parang and wooden shield. It looked graceful when he did it. But it then transpired that all honoured guests had to follow suit. Gerawat did a good job (he must have done this many times before), but then it was my turn! I hope I managed to make not big a fool of myself. And I could then relax while others did their best. Graceful was no longer the most appropriate adjective to describe their antics.
Among the guests were two young Brits. The first is an anthropology student doing research into long-houses. He is a nephew of the Earl of Cranbrook, who worked with Tom Harrisson and whose article on the Borneo pygmy elephant I have just read in the Journal of the Sarawak Museum. The other is a graduate in ecology, who is setting up a business to bring students and others into Sabah and Sarawak for study trips and eco-tourism. He has been in Bario and surroundings for the last few days looking out suitable trails.
The evening concluded with a spirited conga, danced by all present. Fortunately there are no photographs. But the rhythm of the song was captivating and the sense of community overwhelming.
Next morning, after a relaxed breakfast on the terrace, we head off on another short trek, this time to the small reservoir, which is the source of water for the community. The water flows by gravity-feed and is channeled through a narrow plastic pipe laid by the villagers. The only outside help they needed was a gift of cement made by the Chairman of Shell, who visited Bario and asked what he could do to help. Cement costs RM250 per bag up in the highlands (transported in by Twin Otter) compared with RM 20 per bag in Miri!
On the way Gerawat tells us of how they built the concrete walls to hold in the water of the reservoir, which has been a real success. He also recounts the story of the micro-hydro facility, which was conceived a few years ago as a source of electricity for the community. After months of building and millions of ringgits of expenditure, it ran for about 45 minutes and then gave up the ghost. The level in the dam was simply not high enough to provide the water to feed the turbine. So the village still survives today on expensively fuelled generators and of course on candle power.
As we travel there and back Gerawat talks about his time in the village as a boy. He points out a couple of branches set at an odd angle and explains that these are a porcupine trap. He still knows how to set one. He knows the trees, learned how to use a blowpipe, knows every path for miles around and could find his way home from anywhere, simply by orienting himself to the hills and rivers. But the boys in the village today have lost many of these skills. Whereas in the past everyone learned to hunt and there were maybe twenty hunters in each long-house, today there are only two or three and they no longer venture as far afield.
These are not the only skills which are being lost. The Kelabit language too is under pressure. Lucy had explained to me the night before that there is no proper orthography. Nor is there a Kelabit dictionary. When the missionaries came, they translated the bible into Lun Bawang, but not into Kelabit (except strangely for the Book of Romans!). And, as the old people disappear, there is a real risk of the language dying out with them.
When we get back to “Gem’s Lodge” there is just time to pack and make ready for departure. We are driven to the airport and as we sit down with the local headman and others gathered to see us off, I wonder about what the community will feel like if I come back in a few years’ time. Will there be anyone left living in long-houses? Will there be anyone who still knows how to set a porcupine trap or use a blowpipe? Will the children of the old ladies know (or understand) the words of the songs? How many of the next generation will be prepared to spend a week making salt? Will the new logging road mean not only cheaper cement, but also more visitors, more pollution and less of a sense of community? I hope not.
As we take off in our Twin Otter I feel privileged to have seen Bario as it is today. A special place with some very special people. I plan to return.
Boyd McCleary
September 2008
Last updated at 5:56 (UK time) 8 May 2009 Press centre
High Commissioner, Boyd McCleary visits Bario, Sarawak
08 May 2009
Boyd McCleary recounts his experience in Bario, home of the Kelabit tribe
One of the most fascinating books I have read since coming to Malaysia is "The World Within" by Tom Harrisson. It tells of the year Harrisson spent in a long-house in Bario, recruiting the locals to rise up against the Japanese occupying forces, when the Allies landed. Bario is the place where the renowned Bario rice is grown. But where exactly is it? I found out recently, when I spent a couple of days there in the course of a visit to Sarawak. When I told a "Star" reporter about my impressions, he invited me to write them down, as he thought they might be of wider interest. So here goes.
The first thing to note about Bario is that it is not served by any road. So the only way to get there is on foot (a two month walk from Miri), by river (a couple of weeks up from Marudi) or by air. I chose the last option and took an ancient, but very reliable Twin Otter (designed and built in Canada for bush flying) from Miri. On check-in I was surprised to discover that not only my baggage had to be weighed, but also me. This was so that they could judge how much weight was still available for cargo. Because the rear half of the aircraft was stuffed with cardboard boxes bringing everything conceivable up to Bario.
At 6'5", I had a bit of difficulty squeezing in. But they gave me the front row and I managed to stretch my legs into the gap between the pilot and co-pilot. We stopped off in Marudi and had to spend a while there waiting for the cloud to clear. But luckily we met up with Lucy, a school principal in Miri, who was to be one of our hosts and we started to learn about what lay in store. When we eventually did get off the ground, Lucy was also able to talk us through some of the sights on the way, in particular the twin peaks of Batu Lawi which we saw off to the left. The cloud cover had lifted and we had good views as we came in to land on what seemed to be a remarkably small strip of concrete, a postage stamp in the centre of a big valley, surrounded by high mountains, some of them in Indonesian Kalimantan.
Bario sits at around 3,000 feet. The Kelabit have lived there for thousands of years. It is not that many generations ago that they were head-hunters, but for many years they have practised settled agriculture, first using slash and burn methods to grow their rice and other crops, but now using padi, as they have learned the techniques of irrigation. The rice is still sweet and fragrant. Sadly, however, there are no longer enough people in the community to look after it and many of the fields are falling into disrepair. Less than 2,000 Kelabit now live in Bario, the rest of the population of 6,000 having moved into the bigger towns and cities of Sarawak and West Malaysia
Bario Airport is charming. We were greeted personally at the bottom of the aircraft steps by a lovely lady who was in charge of virtually everything, as far as I could see. She escorted me to a waiting line of community representatives, many of them ladies with beautiful beaded skull-caps (handed down apparently from generation to generation), who presented me with a bead necklace and invited me to drink the juice from a locally grown pineapple. It turns out that Bario produces some of the sweetest and best pineapples in the world, for reasons which are not quite clear to agro-science. I ended up bringing a box-load home!
One of the welcoming party was Gerawat Gala, President of the Kelabit Association, who had flown in specially from Kuching (where he is a high-powered lawyer with Zaid Ibrahim) to look after me. It's been some time since a British High Commissioner visited! Gerawat introduced me to the community elders, including Henry, the father of Idris Jala, CEO of Malaysian Airlines, who was born and brought up in the community and made his way into the big wide world via Shell, who have their Asia-Pacific Headquarters in Miri. When I had met Idris in KL a few months ago, he had encouraged me warmly to visit his home community and now it was happening.
One of the amazing things about Bario is the number of brilliant people the valley has produced! Businessmen, academics, doctors, lawyers and teachers! And yet until 1945 there was no school in the community and no-one had ever had any chance to study. Tom Harrisson helped change all that. After the war, he stayed on in Bario and built the first primary school, subsequently followed by a middle school, which takes the children up to 16, after which they have to move down to Marudi or Miri, where they board. Incidentally Harrisson later became Curator of the Sarawak Museum in Kuching, one of the best small museums in the region.
My first engagement in Bario was lunch at Lucy’s Home Stay. This was an opportunity to talk to the community elders. And boy can they talk! They talked about the days of the White Rajas, Harrisson and the Second World War (a second-hand memory now for almost everyone), the incorporation of Sarawak into Malaysia in 1963 (Bario voted against; they were quite happy with British rule), the Confrontation (Bario was one of the bases for Commonwealth troops) and the way the community had changed over the years, as more and more young people had left.
Then we headed off for a tour of the community, which consists of a few long-houses and increasing numbers of individual dwellings, all interspersed with rice fields. The town centre is pretty modest and the only building with a sign outside is the e-Bario, a pilot project run my UNIMAS to bring the internet into rural areas. We visited the primary school, where the children put on an impressive show of local dance, and the middle school, where Gerawat explained what it had been like for him as one of the first pupils to move through and on to university. Between the schools is the site for a new community hall, which Shell are helping to fund.
Above is a hill, from where you can get the best view of Bario. Sitting there for a few moments gave a real sense of peace and well-being. The only disturbance is the distant sound of bulldozers, pushing a logging trail toward Bario, a trail which could change the life of the community for good. But visible too is land now gazette as a new state national park, Pulong Tau, shaped like a violin. There are apparently plans afoot to extend the width of the violin and take the park across the border into Kalimantan, as part of the ambitious and highly important Heart of Borneo project, the aim of which is to create a protected zone covering 200,000 square km of Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei, an area nearly the size of the UK.
Near the top of the hill is a small museum, housed in one simple room, which tells Bario’s story through pictures and artifacts. One thing that caught my attention was a set of photographs and sketches describing the work by a group of UK universities, including my own alma mater Queen’s Belfast, in mapping the stone megaliths which lie in the hills surrounding the settlement. Megaliths which, when dated, may help the Kelabit demonstrate the extent of territory in which they held sway.
In the afternoon Gerawat suggests that we trek to the salt spring. So we switch into hiking gear and head off along a narrow winding track that takes us past some rice fields (now cared for by Indonesian labourers), past a tiny church (virtually the whole Kelabit community are Christian), across the river and through the site of the old long-house, which was abandoned because of flooding and now stands empty. The timber was taken to re-build at a new site.
Nearby we are shown the place where a Royal Navy Whirlwind helicopter came down during Confrontation. The helicopters were used to ferry troops – SAS, Gurkhas, Royal Green Jackets (the villagers remember the individual regiments!) – to the points along the border where Indonesian irregulars came across. Gerawat remembers Confrontation as an exciting time for him as a boy, who was roped in by the soldiers to carry supplies and ammunition, One account of Bario tells also of the rowdy life-style of the squaddies, who created a different impression of the white man from that of the Australian missionaries, who had come a few years earlier.
We walk past the turn-off to the Indonesian border and arrive soon at the salt spring. Gerawat explains that some years ago a hunter picked up a blowpipe dart that had missed its target. When he licked the dart to clean it, he noticed a salty taste and discovered a source of salty water. The community, who had till then had to trade for salt with the outside world, decided to use the spring to create their own local supply. So they built a small dam, now a well surrounded by concrete, and every week one family gets the chance to make salt.
But how? What happens is that the family whose turn it is collects firewood from the surrounding area (a huge task, as they have to keep two fires lit for the full week) and stores this in the make-shift hut by the spring. Salt water is gathered in a bucket and poured into large cooking pots, which are then placed on the fires and left there till all the water has evaporated, leaving the salt in the bottom. This salt is taken and decanted into bamboo tubes (also pre-prepared) and left to dry in the warm environment of the hut (where the temperature is stifling and we are all sweating profusely). When dry, these tubes are sealed up and wrapped in a leaf and tied off with natural twine.
Local hospitality is such that I was given one of these tubes. I hesitate to accept given the amount of time, energy and sweat it has cost, but Gerawat tells me it would be rude to refuse. I thank the family and wish them well for the rest of their week’s hard labour. And we set off home. The return journey is quicker than the outward leg, as Gerawat has arranged for us to be picked up by a local boatman, who takes us back along the river to our starting point.
Home for the night is “Gem's Lodge”, a Home Stay house owned by Gerawat (he plans to retire there) and managed by members of his family. After changing out of our hiking gear, we enjoy a delicious cold beer on the terrace overlooking the river. Then there is a wonderful supper for the whole village, cooked communally, after which a cultural evening is promised. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. But it turned out to be a mixture of song and dance involving everyone. The old ladies led the singing, as they were the ones who knew the words, many of them in an older form of Kelabit which the younger people didn’t fully understand.
One of the high points was the the Kelabit “Warrior Dance”, performed initially by a young man from the long-house, wearing a goat skin adorned with feathers and wielding a parang and wooden shield. It looked graceful when he did it. But it then transpired that all honoured guests had to follow suit. Gerawat did a good job (he must have done this many times before), but then it was my turn! I hope I managed to make not big a fool of myself. And I could then relax while others did their best. Graceful was no longer the most appropriate adjective to describe their antics.
Among the guests were two young Brits. The first is an anthropology student doing research into long-houses. He is a nephew of the Earl of Cranbrook, who worked with Tom Harrisson and whose article on the Borneo pygmy elephant I have just read in the Journal of the Sarawak Museum. The other is a graduate in ecology, who is setting up a business to bring students and others into Sabah and Sarawak for study trips and eco-tourism. He has been in Bario and surroundings for the last few days looking out suitable trails.
The evening concluded with a spirited conga, danced by all present. Fortunately there are no photographs. But the rhythm of the song was captivating and the sense of community overwhelming.
Next morning, after a relaxed breakfast on the terrace, we head off on another short trek, this time to the small reservoir, which is the source of water for the community. The water flows by gravity-feed and is channeled through a narrow plastic pipe laid by the villagers. The only outside help they needed was a gift of cement made by the Chairman of Shell, who visited Bario and asked what he could do to help. Cement costs RM250 per bag up in the highlands (transported in by Twin Otter) compared with RM 20 per bag in Miri!
On the way Gerawat tells us of how they built the concrete walls to hold in the water of the reservoir, which has been a real success. He also recounts the story of the micro-hydro facility, which was conceived a few years ago as a source of electricity for the community. After months of building and millions of ringgits of expenditure, it ran for about 45 minutes and then gave up the ghost. The level in the dam was simply not high enough to provide the water to feed the turbine. So the village still survives today on expensively fuelled generators and of course on candle power.
As we travel there and back Gerawat talks about his time in the village as a boy. He points out a couple of branches set at an odd angle and explains that these are a porcupine trap. He still knows how to set one. He knows the trees, learned how to use a blowpipe, knows every path for miles around and could find his way home from anywhere, simply by orienting himself to the hills and rivers. But the boys in the village today have lost many of these skills. Whereas in the past everyone learned to hunt and there were maybe twenty hunters in each long-house, today there are only two or three and they no longer venture as far afield.
These are not the only skills which are being lost. The Kelabit language too is under pressure. Lucy had explained to me the night before that there is no proper orthography. Nor is there a Kelabit dictionary. When the missionaries came, they translated the bible into Lun Bawang, but not into Kelabit (except strangely for the Book of Romans!). And, as the old people disappear, there is a real risk of the language dying out with them.
When we get back to “Gem’s Lodge” there is just time to pack and make ready for departure. We are driven to the airport and as we sit down with the local headman and others gathered to see us off, I wonder about what the community will feel like if I come back in a few years’ time. Will there be anyone left living in long-houses? Will there be anyone who still knows how to set a porcupine trap or use a blowpipe? Will the children of the old ladies know (or understand) the words of the songs? How many of the next generation will be prepared to spend a week making salt? Will the new logging road mean not only cheaper cement, but also more visitors, more pollution and less of a sense of community? I hope not.
As we take off in our Twin Otter I feel privileged to have seen Bario as it is today. A special place with some very special people. I plan to return.
Boyd McCleary
September 2008
The Kelabit community showing great potential, says Alfred
http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2009/5/8/southneast/3836611&sec=southneast
Friday May 8, 2009
The Kelabit community showing great potential, says Alfred
KUCHING: The Kelabit community has proven that they are not lagging behind in the development of human capital with many taking up important posts in the private and government sectors although it is a minority group in Sarawak, Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Alfred Jabu said.
According to him, the records showed that the community with a population of only 6,500 statewide, had churned out many graduates from tertiary institutions in the country and abroad.
“Their willingness to try, work hard as well as emphasis on positive values and education have shaped them into the outstanding community that they are,” he said at the Rurum Kelabit Excellence Awards 2009 ceremony here.
He expressed his pride in the Kelabit community because of their healthy lifestyle and not taking part in activities like rooster fighting, gambling and drinking and their ability to contribute to the country’s development.
“However, the Bario highlands in Miri were becoming lonely with more of the younger generation moving to the city to further their studies, marking the end of their tradition of living in longhouses,” he said.
Last year, 45 Kelabit students received awards for excellence in the UPSR, PMR, SPM and STPM examinations. — Bernama
Friday May 8, 2009
The Kelabit community showing great potential, says Alfred
KUCHING: The Kelabit community has proven that they are not lagging behind in the development of human capital with many taking up important posts in the private and government sectors although it is a minority group in Sarawak, Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Alfred Jabu said.
According to him, the records showed that the community with a population of only 6,500 statewide, had churned out many graduates from tertiary institutions in the country and abroad.
“Their willingness to try, work hard as well as emphasis on positive values and education have shaped them into the outstanding community that they are,” he said at the Rurum Kelabit Excellence Awards 2009 ceremony here.
He expressed his pride in the Kelabit community because of their healthy lifestyle and not taking part in activities like rooster fighting, gambling and drinking and their ability to contribute to the country’s development.
“However, the Bario highlands in Miri were becoming lonely with more of the younger generation moving to the city to further their studies, marking the end of their tradition of living in longhouses,” he said.
Last year, 45 Kelabit students received awards for excellence in the UPSR, PMR, SPM and STPM examinations. — Bernama
Friday, April 17, 2009
Liberation trail to mark sacrifices
The Star Online
Friday April 17, 2009
Liberation trail to mark sacrifices
KUCHING: The Sarawak Tourism Federation wants to open links between Bario Highlands, Long Akah (in the northern region) and Belaga (upper Rejang basin), where the liberation of Sarawak from the Japanese Occupation forces started.
Its Heritage Development committee chairman Lim Kian Hock said the move would help rekindle the spirit of the struggle for peace and nation-building.
”It is a tribute to the veterans of the war,” he said when welcoming an Australian delegation at the Batu Lintang Wartime Heritage site yesterday.
Delegation members from the Australian-New Zealand Army Corp included relatives of former Australian prisoners of war. They later laid wreaths at a Heroes Grave Monument.
Lim said the Borneo campaign to liberate Sarawak was launched in May 1945. Two weeks earlier, special British and Australian commandos were air-dropped into the mountainous interiors of the Bario Highlands.
The Japanese forces surrendered on Aug 15, 1945.
Lim said the proposed liberation trail would enable young Malaysians and Australians to experience the heritage, learn jungle survival skills and promote cultural exchanges.
Friday April 17, 2009
Liberation trail to mark sacrifices
KUCHING: The Sarawak Tourism Federation wants to open links between Bario Highlands, Long Akah (in the northern region) and Belaga (upper Rejang basin), where the liberation of Sarawak from the Japanese Occupation forces started.
Its Heritage Development committee chairman Lim Kian Hock said the move would help rekindle the spirit of the struggle for peace and nation-building.
”It is a tribute to the veterans of the war,” he said when welcoming an Australian delegation at the Batu Lintang Wartime Heritage site yesterday.
Delegation members from the Australian-New Zealand Army Corp included relatives of former Australian prisoners of war. They later laid wreaths at a Heroes Grave Monument.
Lim said the Borneo campaign to liberate Sarawak was launched in May 1945. Two weeks earlier, special British and Australian commandos were air-dropped into the mountainous interiors of the Bario Highlands.
The Japanese forces surrendered on Aug 15, 1945.
Lim said the proposed liberation trail would enable young Malaysians and Australians to experience the heritage, learn jungle survival skills and promote cultural exchanges.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Interior folk low on fuel and gas
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/2/8/nation/3223025&sec=nation
Sunday February 8, 2009
Interior folk low on fuel and gas
By STEPHEN THEN
MIRI: First, it was a food shortage. Now tens of thousands of flood victims in interior Sarawak are running out of diesel, petrol and cooking gas.
Diesel and petrol stocks have dried up in places like Bario and Ba’kelalan, affecting more than 5,000 people living in the mountains along the Sarawak-Kalimantan border after their access road to the outside world was severed more than three weeks ago by floods.
Ba’kelalan state assemblyman Nelson Balang Rining said: “The fuel crisis has not only caused transportation woes but also problems in homes which use generators to produce electricity.
“To make matters worse, cooking gas is also running out as we cannot get new stocks from Lawas. Sugar, flour, milk and other essential items are also running out fast. There is no more rice too,” he said.
Balang said that it was not viable to ferry food or fuel to the highlands via helicopters due of the current dangerous weather.
“There is only one way of transporting urgent stocks and that is via the timber road linking Lawas town and Ba’kelalan. Unfortunately, that road is flooded,” he said.
“Many stretches have been continuously submerged in more than a metre of water for weeks.”
In the Baram parliamentary constituency, floodwaters continue to plague people living in the two largest towns of Marudi and Long Lama, while some 195 longhouses are still in about a metre of water.
Adding to these woes, Sarawak’s northernmost airport – Lawas Airport – had shut down operations due to the floods, and this has disrupted flights to Miri, Limbang, Bario and Ba’kelalan.
In Miri Division, rising river waters claimed the life of 46-year-old unemployed man Razali Mohd Isa in a riverine village in Sibuti district after he fell into the Bakong River.
Sunday February 8, 2009
Interior folk low on fuel and gas
By STEPHEN THEN
MIRI: First, it was a food shortage. Now tens of thousands of flood victims in interior Sarawak are running out of diesel, petrol and cooking gas.
Diesel and petrol stocks have dried up in places like Bario and Ba’kelalan, affecting more than 5,000 people living in the mountains along the Sarawak-Kalimantan border after their access road to the outside world was severed more than three weeks ago by floods.
Ba’kelalan state assemblyman Nelson Balang Rining said: “The fuel crisis has not only caused transportation woes but also problems in homes which use generators to produce electricity.
“To make matters worse, cooking gas is also running out as we cannot get new stocks from Lawas. Sugar, flour, milk and other essential items are also running out fast. There is no more rice too,” he said.
Balang said that it was not viable to ferry food or fuel to the highlands via helicopters due of the current dangerous weather.
“There is only one way of transporting urgent stocks and that is via the timber road linking Lawas town and Ba’kelalan. Unfortunately, that road is flooded,” he said.
“Many stretches have been continuously submerged in more than a metre of water for weeks.”
In the Baram parliamentary constituency, floodwaters continue to plague people living in the two largest towns of Marudi and Long Lama, while some 195 longhouses are still in about a metre of water.
Adding to these woes, Sarawak’s northernmost airport – Lawas Airport – had shut down operations due to the floods, and this has disrupted flights to Miri, Limbang, Bario and Ba’kelalan.
In Miri Division, rising river waters claimed the life of 46-year-old unemployed man Razali Mohd Isa in a riverine village in Sibuti district after he fell into the Bakong River.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Logging may be linked to landslide deaths in Malaysia says environmental group
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0127-bmf_logging_landslide.html
Logging may be linked to landslide deaths in Malaysia says environmental group
mongabay.com
January 27, 2009
Three people were killed and seven injured when a landslide swept through a logging camp in the Upper Limbang region of the Malaysian state of Sarawak. The Bruno Manser Fund, an NGO that campaigns on behalf of Sarawak's indigenous people, links the landslide to logging.
"The landslide is a direct consequence of destructive logging practices," it said in a statement. "The landslide took place near Long Sebayang on the upper reaches of the Limbang river. Logging in the area, which is claimed by local Penan and Kelabit communities, has been controversial since the mid-1980s when locals set up a number of logging-road blockades to prevent the timber companies from encroaching their rainforests."
The group says that logging in the area is currently being carried out by Lee Ling Timber, a company headquartered in Limbang. Samling also operates in the area.
Research elsewhere has shown that removal of trees and vegetation from hillsides can increase the incidence of landslides.
Logging may be linked to landslide deaths in Malaysia says environmental group
mongabay.com
January 27, 2009
Three people were killed and seven injured when a landslide swept through a logging camp in the Upper Limbang region of the Malaysian state of Sarawak. The Bruno Manser Fund, an NGO that campaigns on behalf of Sarawak's indigenous people, links the landslide to logging.
"The landslide is a direct consequence of destructive logging practices," it said in a statement. "The landslide took place near Long Sebayang on the upper reaches of the Limbang river. Logging in the area, which is claimed by local Penan and Kelabit communities, has been controversial since the mid-1980s when locals set up a number of logging-road blockades to prevent the timber companies from encroaching their rainforests."
The group says that logging in the area is currently being carried out by Lee Ling Timber, a company headquartered in Limbang. Samling also operates in the area.
Research elsewhere has shown that removal of trees and vegetation from hillsides can increase the incidence of landslides.
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